Mercury and arsenic contaminants are found in water, and mercury is found in both water and gases primarily from volcanic eruptions; coal fired power plants; emissions from coal combustion; mercury vapor and/or particles from natural gas; produced water from the oil and gas industry; waste waters from gold production and non-ferrous metal production (e.g., smelters); waste water from cement production; sewage sludge incineration; caustic soda production; pig iron and steel production; and mercury production waste, mainly for battery incorporation. Products containing mercury include: auto parts, batteries, fluorescent bulbs, medical products, thermometers, and thermostats.
The technologies available for mercury and arsenic removal, such as precipitation, coagulation/co-precipitation, activated carbon adsorption, ion-exchange and the like, are not sufficiently effective for mercury and arsenic (arsenite and arsenate compounds) removal. This assignee's organoclay has been proven effective on a variety of organic contaminants in the last decade. See, for example, this assignee's U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,398,951; 6,398,966; 6,409,924; and 6,749,757, incorporated herein by reference. A new Hg/As filtration media, described herein, can be operated in a similar fashion, or together with the organoclay media, but is much more effective for mercury or arsenic removal.
Both Hg/As removal media described herein have a similar physical form to the organoclays used for organic contaminant removal and can be similarly packed in a canister or cartridge, as described in the above-listed patents. In addition, the Hg/As removal media described herein can be deployed in single layer or multi-layer water-permeable mats, as described in this assignee's published application Ser. Nos. 10/718,128, filed Nov. 19, 2003 (Publication No. 2005-01013707 A1), Ser. No. 11/221,019, filed Sep. 7, 2005 (Publication No. 2006/0000767 A1), [11/489,383, filed Jul. 19, 2006, (Publication No. 2006-0286888 A1)], Ser. No. 11/599,080, filed Nov. 14, 2006 (Publication No. 2007-0059542 A1); and Ser. No. 11/741,376, filed Apr. 27, 2007 (Publication No. 2007-0206994 A1), all of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Fundamentally, the Hg/As removal media is based on organoclay technology but it has been substantially modified using several unique chemistries to enhance adsorption of mercury and arsenic-containing compounds. The mechanism of mercury adsorption is based upon chemical bonding, ionic bonding, mechanical bonding, or a combination thereof. The mercury and/or arsenic will be bonded to the media's external and internal surfaces and the bonding process is non-reversible.
Both Hg/As removal media described herein are effective on all sources of mercury and arsenic including organic types of mercury and arsenic, including organic mercury and arsenic compounds, mercury metal (zero valent); arsenite and arsenate compounds; arsenic ions (both III and V valent); and mercury ions (both I and II valent). When the organic-based mercury and/or arsenic is involved, the adsorption mechanism of partition could be involved in addition to chemical bonding. In addition, both Hg/As removal media described herein also are effective to remove oil, grease and other organic contaminant molecules. The media will be spent eventually when all of the adsorption sites are saturated. The actual media life will depend on the contaminated water compositions and the field operation conditions. When both Hg/As removal media are used together, either in series or admixed, the removal of mercury and/or arsenic is synergistic.
Greco U.S. Pat. No. 5,512,526 describes a clay-based heavy metal removal media prepared by reacting a fatty mercaptan, e.g., dodecylmercaptan, with a fatty alkyl-containing quaternary ammonium compound. As described, the mercaptan's hydrophobic fatty alkyl group associates in some manner with the fatty alkyl group of the quaternary ammonium compound.